Last Resort
by Tiarwen
Summary: Reposted. Sometimes, the one person you thought was your total opposite might be the one who is incredibly similar, and the one you thought knew nothing about you may understand you the best. HGDM oneshot complete.


Disclaimer - the characters are JKR's, the song is Papa Roach's **Last Resort**. Hermione's poem is mine.

**For Briar - happy birthday babe, I love you!**

Just a note - this is being reposted after it was deleted a few months ago. I'm hoping history wont repeat itself, but if you think you've seen this before, you probably have.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Last Resort

**Cut my life into pieces  
****This is my last resort  
****Suffocation  
****No breathing  
****Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding**

He holds the razor blade over his wrist. He presses down and drags it slowly, ever so slowly, across. This pain is only thing that is real to him anymore, the only thing that keeps him sane and gets him through the days that seem to drag by and blend together. It is the only thing he has left. His pale blonde hair falls into his steel blue eyes as he reaches for the towel to clean up the blood that is staining his pale skin.

**This is my last resort**

She holds a towel over her forearm to soak up the blood that threatened to fall to the floor just moments ago. On the sink there sits a bloody razor blade. As she slowly lifts the fabric off her arm to check the status of the blood flow, a strand of her caramel brown hair falls into her chocolate brown eyes. The cuts have stopped bleeding. She wipes off the dried blood and rolls down the sleeve of her shirt. This pain is all she has left.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were sitting in the Heads compartment of the Hogwarts Express. Neither had said anything, nothing more than a nod of recognition. Hermione was staring out the window at the gray clouds hovering in the sky. Draco has his eyes closed, lost in thought. They had been sitting there for about two minutes when Professor McGonagall walked in; both looked to her, Hermione giving her a small smile and Draco simply nodding his head in acknowledgement.

"First of all, congratulations to you both. Let's see, you two will be sharing a common room, and will have access to all the common rooms of all houses. You have no curfew, although we do wish that you be in your common room by a reasonable hour. You have access to the Restriction Section of the library at your disposal, and can add or dock house points, although do not abuse the privilege. In addition, you will be planning all formal events - together," she explained. "I believe that is all. I will see you after the Sorting Feast to show you your common room," she said and with a smile, she left.

Both knew that they should get up and return to their friends, but for a minute neither moved. Then Draco grudgingly got to his feet and headed for the door, but before he left he said, "See you Granger."

He left before she could answer, but as the door closed behind him, she said quietly, "Good bye Malfoy."

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Hermione had sat next to Harry and Ron during the Welcoming Feast, but they had barely paid her any attention. In fact, if they hadn't greeted her when she sat down, she might have thought that they had not remembered her. She didn't pay that much attention to Dumbledore's welcoming speech, all she wanted was to go to her room and fall asleep. She ate little and talked even less, and was extremely relieved when they were dismissed for the night.

Draco had sat between his two boulders of lackeys during dinner, and was also disinterested in the entire 'welcome back to school' ordeal. He put food on his plate, but didn't eat as much as he simply pushed around on his plate, silent throughout the meal. He was grateful that he was able to rid himself of Crabbe and Goyle after eating, and met up with Hermione and Professor McGonagall outside the Great Hall.

The Professor smiled at the two and said, "Follow me." She led them down two corridors, up one flight of stairs and then down another hallway before stopping in front of a painting of two young children, around six by the looks of it. "Kaitlyn, Aidan, these are the Head students for this year, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy," she said. The children studied them for a moment and then looked at one another before nodding their heads in understanding. "The password is 'secrets,'" the Professor continued and the painting swung open at these words. She gestured to the hole, indicating that they should enter and left them. They both stood there for a few moments and then Draco made another motion, telling her to go first. Hermione looked at him for a moment, but then walked into the common room.

The walls were a shade of deep purple and the carpet was soft and black. There were two desks, a fireplace on one wall, in between two bookshelves. On the right hand side of the common room, there was a door with a crimson name plate with 'Head Girl - Hermione Granger' written in loopy gold letters. Opposite it, on the left wall, the door had a green plate that read 'Head Boy - Draco Malfoy' in the same writing, although the letters were in silver instead of gold.

Hermione walked into her bedroom and found the walls a deep blood red, while the king-sized bed comforter was black, as were the pillows. There were small accents of white around the room as well, and there was a smaller bookshelf next to the closet. Her trunk was sitting at the foot of the bed, having been brought up by the house elves during dinner. Across the room from her bed was another door, which she opened curiously. She found herself looking at a black and white tiled bathroom, monotone but elegant. The bathtub was circular and could have been mistaken for a hot tub. Next to the tub was a large shower, and on the sink counter Hermione could see her favorite toiletries. As she studied the bathroom, she noticed another door on the opposite side she had come in through. She stared at it for a moment, then abruptly turned around and walked back into her own bedroom.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Draco had followed Hermione's lead and gone into his own bedroom. It had black walls; the bed had black pillows and a hunter green comforter. There was a bookshelf and an armchair near a window that overlooked the lake. His trunk sat at the foot of his bed, and he walked over and opened it. Reaching in, he rummaged around for a moment before pulling out a sketch book and a pencil. He conjured a small table in front of the chair and sat down and began to draw. When he was finished, the page showed the body of a girl, cuts visible on her arms, staring up at the sky in a dark forest. He placed the sketch book and the pencil down on the table and stretched. He then got up and walked through a door to see the same elegant monotone bathroom that Hermione had. As he was washing his hands he noticed a door opposite his. He studied it for a moment and then turned off the water and walked back into his room.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

While Draco had been drawing in his room, Hermione had not been without her own creative habits. After she left the bathroom, she had rummaged around in her trunk for a few moments before pulling out a plain black journal and a black pen. She sat on the bed cross-legged, the book on her lap. She opened the journal to a clean page and looked out the window before beginning to write.

_End This Pain_

_slit my throat  
__cut my wrists  
__or just shoot me now  
__but end this pain  
__tonight  
__  
__don't wanna try anymore  
__i've just given up hope  
__no light at the end of the tunnel  
__no sweet afterlife _

_close my eyes  
__blessed darkness  
__take me away  
__screams of horror  
__shattered dreams  
__forgotten hope  
__nothing left here now _

_bright red blood  
__drips down  
__beside so many tears  
__please  
__end my pain  
__tonight_

A single tear had formed in her eyes as she wrote, but she wiped it away before it could fall. She tucked the journal under her pillow and placed the pen on her nightstand. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth before returning to her room and changing into a pair of black pajama pants and a white tank top. She curled her self under the comforter, turned off the light and closed her eyes, wishing in vain that the nightmares wouldn't show themselves during the night.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Draco was sitting in the chair in his room, reading Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat. As he ended a chapter he looked up at the clock and saw that it was almost midnight. He placed the book on his nightstand and decided to take a shower. He walked into the bathroom and turned on the water, then stripped down and stepped into the scalding hot water. The bright red lines on the underside of his left forearm turned even brighter under the water, but he attempted to ignore them. Less than ten minutes later he walked back into his room and put on a simple pair of black pajama pants and lay down on the bed, hoping that for once sleep would overtake him easily. It was a little known fact that Draco Malfoy was an insomniac. He used to take sleeping potions, until one of his father's personal Healers mentioned that they were addictive and if over used could cause depression and suicidal tendencies. She went on to say that an overdose of the potions could result in a coma or death, which of course made Lucius take Draco off them immediately.

**Cut my life into pieces  
****I've reached my last resort  
****Suffocation  
****No breathing  
****Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding  
****Do you even care if I die bleeding**

Draco scoffed at the memory. He didn't need the potions to make him depressed or suicidal - Lucius had done enough of that since Draco was six years old. He couldn't even begin to count the number of time he had contemplated suicide. The thoughts came unbidden and of their own accord, sometimes at the worst possible moment. He could be sitting at dinner with his Mother and Lucius (he had never thought of him as 'father.') and his mind would suddenly be filled with images of silver razor blades and bloody wrists. And as these thoughts filled his mind, he had occasionally wondered if his father would be upset by his death. Of course, he would be angered at losing his only heir, but he would not feel any personal loss - he had never really cared about his son as a human being. Draco looked at the clock and found that he had wasted more than an hour wrapped up in his thoughts. With a sigh he got out of the bed and walked out of his room into the common room, where he sat in one of the arm chairs, staring at the glowing embers in the fireplace.

**Would it be wrong  
****Would it be right  
****If I took my life tonight  
****Chances are that I might  
****Mutilation outta sight  
****And I'm contemplating suicide**

Hermione awoke in the middle of the night shuddering from her dreams. She drew in a few shaky breaths, and looked at the clock - 1:07 am. She took a few deep breathes and tried to recall which of her nightmares she had been having. She closed her eyes and the scene played out in front of her once more.

_Hermione was sitting in her room during the second week of summer break when her step father had opened the door and told her, "Your mother and I are going out for a few days. You know where the food is." And with that he left, not once looking back._

_Less than five minutes later, her mother walked in and immediately began reprimanding her. "Look at this mess. Can't you keep your stuff orderly for a while?" she asked scathingly. "Honestly, you make my life so difficult sometimes. Every now and then I think it would have been better if you hadn't been born," she told Hermione before leaving the same way her step father had._

_It was then that Hermione had moved to her bathroom, and pulled out her razor blade from its hiding placing in her medicine cabinet, and began to drag it across her arm. She was moving closer and closer to the veins on her wrist and she vaguely wondered if either of them would care if she died. She scoffed at the very idea - of course not. She had often wondered about dying. It was her life, who could tell her if it was right or wrong for her to kill herself._

Hermione opened her eyes and looked around her dorm. There was pale moonlight streaming through the window, and her comforter had speckles of tears on it. She wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and rolled over on the bed, embracing the darkness of sleep once more.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The next morning, Hermione awoke, not truly refreshed, but that was not unusual for her. She rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom for a shower. Under the stream of water, the healing cuts on her left arm stood out even more against the pale skin of her underarm. She avoided looking at them, knowing that if she did, desire would take a hold of her and she would want more. After her shower, she brushed her teeth quickly, then she left the bathroom and went back to her room to change for classes, glad that the robes would cover her arms inconspicuously. When she finished dressing, she picked up her books and left for the Great Hall.

Draco had finally managed to fall asleep around three in the morning, and awoke a few minutes after seven. He noticed that his sketch book was still lying on the table; he got up and carefully closed it before picking it up and placing it on the bookshelf. When that was done he walked to his closet and changed for the day. He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth quickly before heading for breakfast.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Hectic. That was how Hermione would describe the first day of classes of her seventh year if you were to ask her. After breakfast she had Advanced Charms, after which she was supposed to have a break, but she and Draco had gotten called down to the Headmaster's office to go over the plans for the year, which included all of the Hogsmeade weekends, working out patrol schedules until December, three balls, plus one for graduation, the actual graduation ceremony and the exam dates. After that she had gone to lunch and finally Advanced Transfiguration, which happened to be with the Slytherins - which, of course, made her day even worse.

After classes had ended for the day, Hermione returned to her dorms, and as soon as she entered her bedroom, she promptly dropped her things on the floor and fell ungracefully on her back onto the bed.

**Cuz I'm losing my sight  
****Losing my mind  
****Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine**

It was times like these that Hermione felt like she was slowly losing her sanity. Sometimes she wanted someone to share all of it with, but how fair was that, to share all of her burdens with someone else? But every so often, she just wanted to hear someone tell her that things would work out and that she would be alright in the end - even if it wasn't true.

**Losing my sight  
****Losing my mind  
****Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine**

Draco's day had been very nerve-racking, and he felt his sanity slowly slipping away. He rarely felt so out of control, and it truly annoyed him. He liked to be in control of his life and his mind, being able to organize things to his liking.

When his classes finished for the day he walked back to his dorm, dropping his books on the couch in the common room before going to his room and collapsing on the bed. As he stared at the ceiling, he remembered that he used to wish that he had someone to talk to, but he couldn't do that, he couldn't burden someone else with his pathetic life. But occasionally, he just wanted someone to tell him that things would be okay and that he would be fine.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

At the beginning of October, Draco and Hermione began planning the Halloween ball, and with each passing day things seemed to get more stressful. Both of the Heads were feeling the pressure, and both were beginning to lose it. And, for both, the shit hit the proverbial fan on Friday, October 9th.

**I never realized I was spread too thin  
****Till it was too late  
****And I was empty within  
****Hungry  
****Feeding on chaos  
****And living in sin  
****Downward spiral where do I begin**

Aside from a full schedule of all Advanced classes, her Heads duties, patrolling every other night, she had also gotten an owl from her aunt Selena saying that her mother and step father had been killed in a car accident while he was driving drunk. While Hermione didn't have a great relationship with them, they were still a part of her life and the fact that they had died had a huge impact on her.

It was right after dinner that she received the letter in her bedroom. She sank down onto the bed and closed her eyes. There were no tears; she didn't have any tears left. Instead she opened her eyes and pulled open one of the drawers on her night stand. Gleaming in the glow of the lamp was her silver razor blade. She rolled up the left sleeve of the shirt she had been wearing and picked up the blade with her right hand. She was shaking slightly when she first pressed it to her skin, but as it dragged along her skin she grew calmer. She drew in a steadier breath before pressing the razor down again and moved it across her skin. She let out a sigh and placed the razor blade back in the drawer. She looked down at her arm, which was bleeding, not massively, but definitely in need of being cleaned. She stood and crossed the room to the bathroom door.

Hermione walked in and closed the door behind her and turned to reach for a towel - and froze. Draco was leaning against the sink counter, holding a blood soaked towel over his left arm, and she could feel his ice blue eyes locked onto her own bloody arm.

**It all started when I lost my mother  
****No love for myself  
****And no love for another  
****Searching to find a love up on a higher level  
****Finding nothing but questions and devils**

October 9th. If it were up to Draco, the day would be wiped off the face of the Earth. It was the day his mother had died. No, that was wrong - it was the day Lucius had **_murdered_** his mother. It was exactly one year ago. Aside from all of the things he had to do for the school as Head Boy, it was a year to the day of the worst thing that had ever happened in his entire life.

He had managed to hold it together through classes, but he hadn't gone down to dinner - he was not in the mood. Instead, he sat in the chair and stared out the window for more than an hour until it was too much. He got out of the chair and went over to the bookshelf, where there sat a small black wood box. He opened the box and pulled out his razor blade, and then rolled up the left sleeve of his white button down shirt. Holding the blade steadily, he pressed the silver piece of metal down on his forearm and dragged it ever so slowly across. After the first was done, he removed the blade from his skin and placed it down again, less than a centimeter away and repeated the process - press and drag. It continued, and when he finally stopped there were sixteen bright red lines covering the pale skin of his forearm.

With a sigh Draco placed the razor blade back in the box and closed the lid before walking to the bathroom. He pulled a towel off the rack and held it over his bleeding forearm. He had only been standing there for maybe two minutes when the door opposite his opened. Hermione closed the door behind her and turned to face him. She froze where she stood and he could feel her chocolate eyes locked on the bloody towel on his arm. But that was not where his attention was focused, because he was staring at the blood dripping down her arm.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Neither knew how long they stood there, staring at one another. Eventually Hermione closed her eyes and sunk down against the door. Without knowing why, Draco crossed the room and sat in front of her. She raised her head and the two locked eyes. In his, she could see the same pain that filled her own body and soul; and in hers, he could see the same angst he felt constantly.

Tentatively, Hermione reached out with one hand and moved the bloody towel off Draco's arm, and then traced the thin red lines lightly with her fingers as she stared at them. He grasped her wrist lightly and turned it over, exposing her cuts. She looked away, but he studied them, noticing how similar they were to his own.

"You know, no one else has ever seen them," she said quietly.

After a moment, he answered, "I know."

They sat in a comfortable silence, each touching the others arm, lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Draco looked up, about to make a comment, and saw that Hermione had fallen asleep. With the tiniest of smiles, he stood, careful to not disturb her. Then he picked her up in his arms and moved her to her room. He laid her on the bed, and felt his own exhaustion settling in. Without truly comprehending what he was doing, he lay down beside her and fell asleep promptly.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Hermione woke Saturday morning curled against something warm and comfortable, and there was another something warm wrapped around her waist. She blinked her eyes open slowly and found her self staring at the sleeping form of one Draco Malfoy. If this had happened any other time, she would have screamed bloody murder and wondered what had happened to her sanity. But she remembered what had transpired between them the night before, but not returning to her bedroom. She assumed that Draco had brought her back and fallen asleep before he could have left for his own room.

She watched him breathe for a few moments as she thought. His presence gave her an odd sense of calm, and his body next to hers was comforting. She decided that she was too tired to think anymore and lay her head on his chest and drifted off to sleep. But before she was completely consumed by slumber, she realized - she had had no nightmares.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The first thing Draco realized when he woke was that he had fallen asleep quickly the night before. The second thing he realized was that he was sleeping next to someone. He opened his eyes to find that the 'someone' was the one and only Hermione Granger. On any other Saturday, this would have been a very odd occurrence indeed. But he remembered had had happened between them the night before, and realized that he must have fallen asleep before he could return to his room. He watched her sleep as he thought for several moments. Her presence was calming him, and the feel of her body next to him was comforting.

As he watched, her eyes slowly flickered open. The two merely looked at one another for a minute or so. Finally, Hermione broke the silence by saying, "Good morning."

Draco raised an eyebrow and told her, "That's an oxymoron. Mornings can never be good."

Hermione gave him a tiny smile and a quiet laugh. It was quiet for a moment until she said, "It's a Hogsmeade weekend."

"You have fun with that," he told her.

She gave him a look of confusion. "You're not going?" she asked.

"The more time I can get away from the annoyances that are known as my 'friends,' the better," he answered.

"Oh," she said.

The two lay there for a few more minutes before Draco began to untangle himself from her and got up from the bed. Hermione simply watched as he did this, but when he was standing beside her she started to laugh.

"What is wrong with you woman?" he asked.

"Your hair," was all she said.

He ran one hand through his hair in an attempt to fix it, but only succeeded in making her laugh harder. Eventually he gave up and said, "I'll see you later," and walked into the bathroom.

It occurred to Hermione that this might have been a very awkward situation, especially with how he left, but she was not at all embarrassed or anything of the sort.

She heard the shower begin in the bathroom and made a mental note to not go in until it stopped. That _would_ be an awkward situation. She rolled out of the bed and went over to the closet. She chose a simple pair of jeans and a red t shirt, but put a black hooded sweatshirt on over the t shirt. Making sure that Draco had left the bathroom, she went in and brushed her teeth before applying the tiniest bit of make-up, just some mascara and clear lip gloss. When she was done she went back into her room and put on a worn pair of black Vans and made sure she had her wand before heading into the common room.

Draco was standing by the bookshelf, looking at the titles. He was wearing another long sleeve button down shirt, although it was green as opposed to the white one the day before, and blue jeans. As Hermione walked to the portrait hole, she said, "Bye Draco."

"Have fun Hermione," he responded, never looking away from the books.

Afterwards, both would realize how easy it was to say the other's first name.

**Cuz I'm losing my sight  
****Losing my mind  
****Wish somebody would tell me in fine  
****Losing my sight  
****Losing my mind  
****Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine  
****Nothing's alright  
****Nothing is fine  
****I'm running and I'm crying  
****I'm crying  
****I'm crying  
****I'm crying  
****I'm crying**

Hermione barely got back to her dorms after returning from the village before she started crying. She sunk onto one of the couches and just sobbed. Less than two minutes after she had entered, Draco came out of his room. He saw her and immediately sat down next to her.

"Hey," he whispered, and touched her shoulder.

She looked up and he could see that her eyes were bloodshot and there were tear trails down her cheeks.

Looking back, Draco wouldn't know what compelled him, but he wrapped both of his arms around her body and pulled her smaller body to him. Hermione, for her part, took comfort in his mere presence.

The two sat there for the better part of half an hour, until Hermione had mostly calmed down. She felt the beginnings of sleep taking a hold of her, but she did hear him say, in a voice that was barely more than a whisper, "You'll be fine."

**I can't go on living this way**

For the second time in as many days Draco found himself waking up next to Hermione. Although, the second time was far less comfortable seeing as they had fallen asleep on the couch and it was not quite big enough for the both of them. There was a cramp in his back, and he attempted to move, but his movements caused Hermione to stir from her slumber.

They looked at one another for a moment before Hermione said quietly, "I can't live like this Draco. It's too hard."

"I know," he told her and once again put his arms around her, and she buried her head in his shoulder.

**Cut my life into pieces  
****This is my last resort  
****Suffocation  
****No breathing  
****Don't give a fuck if I cut my arm bleeding  
****Would it be wrong  
****Would it be right  
****If I took my life tonight  
****Chances are that I might  
****Mutilation outta sight  
****And I'm contemplating suicide**

Over the next two weeks, the two Heads became closer. Their conversations were not the happiest ones in the world - they talked about cutting, what had driven them to it, suicide, how they had thought about and planned it. Hermione told him about her wondering about the morals of suicide - it was her life, who could tell her if it was right or wrong to die? And in turn, Draco told her of his mother's death, and his passionate hatred for his father, and his musings about what Lucius would do if Draco died.

**Cuz I'm losing my sight  
****Losing my mind  
****Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine  
****Losing my sight  
****Losing my mind  
****Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine  
****Nothing's alright  
****Nothing is fine  
****I'm running and I'm crying**

It was October 30th, the day before the Halloween Ball that Draco and Hermione had been working on for almost a month. Hermione was sitting at one of the desks in the common room of the Head dormitories doing her Charms homework when Draco stormed through the portrait hole, and Hermione could tell without looking at him that he was absolutely livid. She finished the sentence she had been writing and turned to face him.

He was sprawled across one of the couches, staring at the ceiling as though if he stared at it long enough, he could burn a hole right through it. She got up from her chair and went to sit by him on the couch - not an easy task, considering the fact that he was so tall that he took up the entire couch by lying across it. She sat nothing, but sat at the end of the couch next to his head.

After a few moments, he spoke. "Fucking asshole of a bastard."

She raised her eyebrows, and asked quietly, "Lucius?"

He scoffed softly, but she knew it wasn't directed at her. "Who else?"

She stayed quiet and waited - he would tell her when he was ready.

"I was down talking to Severus," Hermione had learned that the potions master was Draco's godfather and a mentor and sort of father figure to him, "And all of a sudden Lucius comes in, and starts telling me all his plans for me for once I graduate. And almost all of it involves his stupid companies or business partners or the like." He sighed. "I hate him so much Mia." She smiled slightly at the use of his nickname for her. She wasn't entirely sure where he had come up with it, but liked it nonetheless; it was something between the two of them.

Unconsciously, she ran her fingers through his hair, a habit she had picked up, but had also found that at times it helped to calm him down when he was going through one of his worse moods.

"It'll be okay Draco. He won't have any control over you once you graduate. You'll be fine," she told him quietly. He didn't quite think so, but it was good to hear her say it.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

It was a wonder that anyone got through any lessons on the 31st of October. Everywhere Hermione or Draco went, they heard excited students discussing the evening with anticipation. It was a relief to everyone in the castle when classes finished for the day.

In the Head dorms, an interesting conversation was going on between the head students.

"I don't wana go to this," Draco said in what would have been a whine coming from anyone other than Draco Malfoy.

"Well, neither do I. But we have to and you and I both know it so stop complaining and get ready," Hermione told him.

He rolled his eyes but complied and went into his bedroom to change.

Dumbledore had asked them to attend the ball together, as an example in 'inter-house relationships,' to which they complied. Both were pleased with the arrangement - Draco had a reason to turn down the annoying girls who kept asking him and Hermione… well, Hermione had a reason to go with Draco. Not that she would admit it to anyone other than herself, but in the two months of working with and two weeks of friendship, she had developed a slight crush on the blonde. At first it annoyed her - every female (and probably a few of the males as well) had crushed on Draco Malfoy during her time at Hogwarts. But as she thought about it, she realized that it made sense - he knew her better than anyone else did, and that was saying something, having been best friends with Harry and Ron for six years.

As Draco changed in his room, he kept going his plan in his head. He was nervous - and that was saying something. He had almost never been nervous in his entire life, and yet he was getting scared at what he was planning to do within the next few hours.

He had never truly cared for anyone, save his mother, although that was in a different way than his train of thought was going. He had never cared about anyone the way he cared about Hermione. Had you asked him straight out, he would deny that he had any feelings other than friendship for the Gryffindor know-it-all. But he knew differently. With a final tug on his tie, he went into the common room to wait for his companion.

In Hermione's room, she was feeling nervous herself. She was glad that they had decided not to have costumes and on Muggle clothes instead of dress robes. She was wearing a black halter top dress and black heels; along with a simple silver locket her cousin Jade had given her, and a bracelet that matched it from her aunt Selena. But what she was most proud of was the way she had done her eyes. Jade had taught her the summer before sixth year, and Hermione was glad she remembered. She had black eyeliner on the inner eyelid, black mascara, and dark silver eye shadow.

"Here we go," she muttered to herself as she opened the door and stepped into the common room.

The first thing she noticed about Draco was that he was wearing all black. Black slacks, black shoes, black shirt, black tie, black jacket. The second and third things were that he looked different, although that was expected, and that at the same time he looked the same as always. Well, his eyes looked the same, and to her, those were the most amazing thing about him.

She gave him a small smile, which he returned with one of his own. "Shall we go," he asked, and she could hear a hint of anticipation in his voice. He offered his arm to her as he spoke.

"Of course," she responded and took the offered arm.

They walked to the Great Hall in silence, and were ushered in by Professor Flitwick, who told them that they were right on time and the other students would be arriving shortly. They walked to the front of the hall and stood at the front of the Hall along with the teachers.

A few minutes later, the door opened and the other students began to file in. Once everyone was seated at the small tables scattered across the room, Professor Dumbledore began to speak.

"Welcome, everyone, to yet another Halloween. It is thanks to our wonderful Head students, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy that this is possible," he said and motioned to them, who nodded their heads in response to the clapping of the students. "So may I ask that they open this wonderful evening?"

They walked to the middle of the room, which had been cleared to make a dance floor, and as the soft music began to play, they began to dance, and for them, there was nothing beyond this point in time, nothing outside of the two of them. About halfway through the song they were joined by other members of the student body, which partially brought them out of their own little world. When the song finished, they stepped away from one another, Draco bowing to Hermione, and she curtsying to him in response. It was then that the two parted ways, Hermione to her friends and Draco to his.

It was an hour later that Hermione was standing off to the side when Draco approached her and said, "Come with me."

She gave him an odd look but then followed him outside to one of the gardens. "Is something wrong Draco?"

**I can't go on living this way  
****Can't go on  
****Living this way  
****Nothing's alright**

He sighed inaudibly. "Mia, I can't do this anymore."

Hermione felt her heart stop beating for several moments and then begin again rapidly. "W-what do you mean?" she asked, desperately hoping it wasn't what she thought it was.

He stepped towards her until there was barely any room between the two. "This," he said quietly. "Pretending that everything is alright between us."

"What are you talking about Draco? Everything is fine between us!" she exclaimed, wanting it to be true, even if he thought otherwise.

"No, it isn't," he told her.

"And why not?" she asked, unsure of whether to be upset or annoyed.

He didn't answer, but simply looked at her for a moment. Blue eyes met brown, and neither moved… until…

Draco placed his arms around her waist and lowered his head to hers, and covered her lips with his. It took Hermione half a heartbeat to respond, twining her arms around his neck, and within those moments, the Earth stopped rotating, the moon and the sun and the stars all stopped in the paths, and the heavens re-aligned themselves.

Draco broke away from her first and stared into her eyes, and saw the same emotions he felt himself - passion, understanding, and something that could someday become love.

"Now everything is alright," he whispered before kissing her again.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Yay! I am extremely proud of this one, and I hope you all liked it - ESPECIALLY YOU BRIAR! Happy Birthday baby, I love you!

Muses responsible for this fic - Coby, Sean, Chris and Tom pitched in a little bit there at the end…

muah to all, I hope you enjoyed it!

.-Tiarwen-.


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